Malaysia sent search planes to examine an area where Chinese satellite images show what might be debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, but Vietnamese officials said the area had already been “searched thoroughly'' in recent days.
Meanwhile, Li Jiaxiang, chief of the Civil Aviation Administration of China said the agency “cannot confirm that they belong to the missing plane.''
“It is true that the satellite was launched and detected some smoke and what were suspected metal shreds about 37 kilometers southwest of Ho Chi Minh City,'' said Li.
The sighting of possible debris is not far from where the last confirmed position of the plane was in between Malaysia and Vietnam. The images and coordinates were posted on the website of China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
A Xinhua report said the images from around 11 a.m. on Sunday appear to show “three suspected floating objects'' of varying sizes in a 20-kilometer radius, the largest about 24-by-22 meters off the southern tip of Vietnam.
Pham Quy Tieu, Vietnam’s deputy transport minister, told The Associated Press that the area had been “searched thoroughly'' by forces from other countries over the past few days.
Doan Huu Gia, chief of air search and rescue coordination center, said Malaysian and Singaporean aircraft were scheduled to visit area again today.—AP